1. Life coach 5.1 How can we improve our general health?

2. Hi! My name is Tracey and I work for The Esporta Fitness Centre. My job is to assess people’s health when they join the club. I suggest ways they can improve their health. I also work for the local football team and advise ways the team can improve its performance and general health.

3. How’s your general health? My first job is to check for any medical problems that might affect how well a new member can exercise. Then, I ask questions about general lifestyle and give the new members a few simple physical tests. This helps me to understand where they are starting from and how much they want to change.

4. What’s your BMI? I always check weight and height. I use this to check the body mass index (BMI) which gives a good measure of whether someone is in the correct weight range. I need to be sure they really are overweight before I make any suggestions.

5. What do you eat and drink? Sometimes I ask a person to complete a food diary. This involves recording everything they eat for a time (perhaps a day or even a week). I can then add the results into a computer. This will work out if they are eating a healthy diet.

6. Do you smoke and drink alcohol? After assessing a person’s diet I look at smoking and drinking. Smoking kills, so we have classes and support groups to help people give up or cut down. Giving up smoking is a great way to improve your fitness and athletic performance. I also check alcohol consumption – alcoholism is on the rise in this country and too much alcohol can damage your health.

7. I then ask questions about a person’s job and some about personality. Jobs can be stressful and this affects your health – particularly your mental health. We can help people to control the way they respond to stress and so make for healthier lives.

8. How do you relax? The final part of the questionnaire looks at hobbies and how people relax. A highly stressed office worker might relax by walking at the weekend. Other people will relax in other ways that will have an effect on their general health.

9. Eventually we have a profile of a person’s diet, cigarette and alcohol use, job and even lifestyle. All of these are used to build up a personal fitness plan, which includes advice about diet, smoking and alcohol and suggestions for exercises.

10. What’s special about my advice for the football team? Well, their needs are more about general fitness – so they can run hard throughout a match – and specific skills like kicking for goal or heading a ball. I advise on general health and much of my advice is the same as I give in the Leisure Club. A footballer needs to keep fit, eat sensibly, and avoid smoking and drinking too much.